Poll finds Georgians against online sales tax bill

Most Georgia voters oppose legislation pending in Congress that would let states collect sales taxes from online purchases made by out-of-state customers, according to a new poll.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which passed the U.S. Senate last year and is now before the House of Representatives, would do away with a current law that limits states to collecting sales taxes only on purchases from businesses with a physical presence inside the state.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been pushing for the bill for years as a way to give them a fair chance to compete with businesses that sell online.

But according to a poll of 400 likely Georgia voters released Tuesday by the National Taxpayers Union, 57 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” oppose the legislation, while 33 percent strongly or somewhat favor the bill. Ten percent were undecided.

“This is the biggest anti-taxpayer proposal that has a chance of passing Congress,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union.

The R Street Institute, a free-market think tank, worked with the National Taxpayers Union on the poll.

Christian Camara, the institute’s state affairs director, said he sympathizes with small brick-and-mortar business owners worried about losing out to online retailers who don’t have to collect sales taxes on the merchandise they sell to out-of-state customers.

But Camara said the proposed legislation would create a bookkeeping burden that would severely hamper all but the largest businesses that rely on online sales.

“If you’re a small- to medium [company] that transacts most of its business online, you’re going to have to change the system you have to comply with the law,” he said. “It could be quite a drain on resources, even a disincentive to get into business.”

The poll found opposition to the Marketplace Fairness Act across political demographics. Self-identified Democrats opposed it in slightly larger numbers than Republicans, 56 percent to 52 percent. An overwhelming 67 percent of independent voters surveyed said they were against the bill.

Not surprisingly, 65 percent of voters who said they shop online frequently opposed the legislation, while 52 percent of those who called themselves infrequent online shoppers were against it.

The poll was conducted June 2-3 by live telephone interviewing. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 4.9 percent.